Proof press with short sheet gripper release



Feb. 27, 1968 D. P. WESTRA ETAL 3,370,533

PROOF PRESS WITH SHORT SHEET GRIPPER RELEASE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledSept. 13, 1965 r g l ATTORNEYS Feb. 27, 1968 3,370,533

PROOF PRESS WITH SHORT SHEET GRIPPER RELEASE D. P. WESTRA ETAL 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 13, 1965 ATTORNEYS United States Patent3,37%,533 PRC-0F PRESS WITH SHGRT SHEET GREPPER RELEASE Dan P. Westra,Grand Haven, and Ned H. Arganbrign Grand Rapids, Mich, assignors to TheChallenge Machinery Company, Grand Haven, Mich, a corporation oflwiehigan Filed Sept. 13, 1955, Ser. No. 486,868 2 Claims. (Cl. 161-269)ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLDSURE In a printing press, radially shiftable sheetgripping elements in the impression cylinder, shiftable by an axiallyshiftable cam shaft having a normally operable pull handle actuator onone end and automatically operable actuator means on the other end usinga lever pivotally mount ed intermediate its ends to the press carriage,engaging the cam shaft on one end, and engageable with cams on the pressbed on the other end.

This invention relates to printing press equipment, and

more particularly to printing presses of the proof press type enablingpractical printing of short sheets by having the facility to enableselected release of short sheets from the impression cylinder grippersas well as automatic release of regular size sheets.

7 The type of printing presses known as proof presses conventionallyemploy a manually advanced carriage which travels along a formsupporting bed. The carriage includes form rolls, a distributor roll,and a sheet gripping impression cylinder. The sheet is gripped on one ofits edges along the axial length of the cylinder periphery so that, asthe cylinder is rotated along the bed with advancement of the carriage,the sheet is pulled around the cylinder and impressed against the typeform on the bed. As the cylinder reaches the far end of the bed, cammingmeans automatically releases the sheet from the grippers so that itsprotruding edge opposite the gripped edge may be grasped by the operatoror automatically dropped to advance the printed sheet from themechanism. Automatic sheet release enables rapid efiicient operation ofthe press. It therefore is advantageous and desirable.

Frequently however, it becomes desirable to print small cards or othershort sheets on such a proof press. This creates very real practicalproblems on conventional automatic release units however, because, asthe carriage reaches the far end where the sheet is released, theunclamped edge of the short sheet, instead of protruding and being freefor removal as the normal sheet is, actually is buried down beneath theimpression cylinder and the ink covered form rolls and distributor roll.It is therefore out of reach of the operator who then has ditficultygetting hold of the short sheet and removing it without smearing theink, off-setting the print or otherwise ruining the printed short sheet.This drawback frequently prevents convenient, practical, short sheetprinting on available proof presses having automatic sheet releasefeatures.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a printing pressof the proof press type having the facility to allow rapid, efiicientprinting of normal size sheets with automatic sheet release, and also toenable effective convenient printing of short sheets with selectiverelease at a desired location of the carriage where the printed shortsheet is exposed for convenient removal by the operator.

Another object of this invention is to provide the printing apparatusnoted above, wherein the selected release ice means for short sheets isextremely inexpensive and simple, yet completely effective. It does nothinder or detract in any way from the automatic release feature ofnormal size sheets, and causes no interference with the generalefiiciency and effectiveness of the press.

Another object of this invention is to provide a proof press havingunique galley hanging means at the tail end of the press.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent uponstudying the following specification in conjunction with the drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the novel press;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, enlarged, perspective view of a portion of theapparatus in FIG. 1, taken from the opposite side, and when the carriageis at the far end of the bed opposite to that end where it isillustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the impression cylinder of theapparatus, shown partly cut away;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the impression cylinder in FIG. 3, takenon plane IVIV;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary, perspective, enlarged view of the tail end ofthe apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary, perspective, enlarged view of the apparatus inFIG. 5, shown supporting a galley; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary, enlarged, sectional view of the apparatus inFIG. 6, taken on plane Vll-Vll.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, the complete apparatus 10includes a support and storage framework 12 supporting the bedsubassembly 14 and the carriage subassembly 16.

The bed subassembly basically includes a fiat bed 18 extending from thehead 13 of the press to the tail 15. It supports type forms inconventional fashion. The bed is straddled by a pair of parallel gearracks 20 and 20' for movement of the carriage 16 therealong.

The carriage includes a pair of spaced vertical side panels 22 and 22.between which are mounted a pair of form rollers 26 and 28, and acooperative ink distributor roll 3%; in conventional fashion, allcovered by a plastic dust guard 31. Also mounted between these verticalpanels is the impression cylinder subassembly 40 (FIG. 3).

Impression cylinder subassembly 41} includes a cylindrical drum-typebody 42 having end closure elements 44 and 46. Extending through thecenter of this cylinder, on its cylindrical axis, is a gripper operatorshaft 50' forming part of a gripper subassembly. This shaft extends outboth ends of the impression cylinder. t has a bearing 54 on one extendedend 5th through which the shaft extends. It has a second bearing 56 onthe opposite end 5%" through which the shaft extends. A special pullinggrip handle 58 is mounted on this second extended end St?" for purposesto be described hereinafter.

Secured to the shaft, inside the drum, at spaced intervals, is aplurality of gripper release cam members 66a, 6%, etc. retained inposition by suitable set screws. These cooperate with a plurality ofradially oriented gripper pins 62a, 62b, etc. which extend out throughthe drum and have a plurality of enlarged gripper heads 64a, 64b, etc.at the outer ends. These gripper heads are normally biased toward thedrum periphery by a plurality of compression springs 66a and 6612, etc.surrounding the lower portion of pins 62a, 6211, etc. The springs abut aportion of the drum on their outer ends and are retained by rings 68a,6812, etc. on the inner ends.

On the ends of the drum is a pair of ring gears 7 0 and 76 whichcooperatively engage gear racks 2t) and 20, respectively. The drum canbe rotated to drive it along the bed, by use of a radially extendingcrank 74 and its handle 76. The crank is mounted to a collar 78, whichis secured to collar '78 afiixed to ring gear 7t}.

'4), including a reel bar 43 and ratchet 45.

In operation, after a print form (not shown) is clamped into position onbed 13, a sheet to be printed is slid 01f platform 80 and beneath theelevated heads of grippers 64a, 64b, etc. then positioned at the upperedge of the impression cylinder. With radial lowering of the grippers,they clamp one edge of the sheet to the cylinder. Then, by rotation ofcrank 74, the carriage traverses the press bed, causing the sheet to beadvanced around the impression cylinder and pressed against the inkedtype form.

As the carriage reaches the lower end of the bed, the sheet isautomatically released utilizing the apparatus illustrated in FIGS. 2, 3and 4. More specifically, a cam follower roller 90 then engages thetapered edge of a cam element 92 mounted to the frame of the press.Since cam follower 90 is mounted on the lower end of a vertical lever94, pivoted in its center to a post S 6 secured to plate 22, the lowerend of this lever is pivoted outwardly while the upper end is pivotedinwardly toward the impression cylinder. This movement, guided byelements 98, causes the upper end of the lever to shift extended end 50'of shaft 50 inwardly of the cylinder. This causesthe gripper releasecams 60a, 601), etc. to radially shift the gripper post 62a, 62b, etc.against the bias of return springs 66a, 66b, etc., thereby elevatinggrippers 64a, 6412, etc. above the cylinder (as illustrated by thephantom line position of gripper 64c in FIG. 3). Thereby the printedpaper sheet can be removed from the impression cylinder.

The position of cam 92 is specifically located so that a conventionalsize sheet is released in optimum release and discharge position at thetail end of the press, difliculty arises when short sheets like thatillustrated at S in FIG. 4 are to be printed on this equipment. Theseshort sheets can initially be gripped under the edge of the gripperelements, e.g. 64d (FIG. 4), so that the impression cylinder subassembly40 is advanced in the normal way. However, the cylinder rolls the shortsheet past the print form, if the short sheet is retained until thecarriage reaches the usual release position, it is down under the rollsand not readily accessible. With the novel apparatus, however, insteadof allowing the sheet to -be retained on the impression cylinder untilthe carriage reaches the automatic release position, special manualrelease handle 58 on extended shaft end 50" enables selective manualrelease of the short sheet at the optimum desired position. This releaseoccurs merely with gripping and pulling of handle 58, thereby shiftingthe release shaft in the same direction that it is shifted from theother end with automatic release of the grippers. Return springs 66a,66b, etc. then return the grippers to the usual position.

This is a relatively simple addition to the conventional machine, butachieves a remarkably increased usefulness for the machine. The presscan be employed for conventional sheets or variously sized short sheetsor cards. This manual release does not interfere in any way with theeffective printing operation, or with the automatic re-.

lease feature.

Another novel feature of this press is in the galley support structureshown in FIGS. 5-7. More specifically, the metal plate 100 at the end ofthe bed and normally used to slide the print form from a galley onto bed18, is specially formed at its downwardly projecting end flange 100' byhaving two hook tabs 102 and 104 severed and bent upwardly to formgalley support means. The tabs are inclined upwardly at a slight angle.Thus, when a galley 106 which has been emptied of its print form isstored conveniently by hooking its end flange 106' (FIG. 7)

4 over the tabs 102 and 104, it is retained in a handy position forreuse.

The simplicity of the improvement is one of the chief advantages, inview of the substantially increased useful potential of the apparatus.Various additional advantages to those specifically noted may occur tothose in the art upon studying this disclosure. Also, it is conceivablethat certain minor details of constriuction could be modified withoutdeparting from the concept presented. Therefore,

the invention is intended to be limited only by the scope of theappended claims and the reasonably equivalent structures to thosedefined therein.

We claim:

1. In a printing press including a form-supporting bed, a carriagemovable along said bed and having form rollers, a distributor roll, andan impression cylinder; said impression cylinder having sheet grippermeans axially along a peripheral portion thereof; said gripper means be:ing radially shiftable with respect to said cylinder to release the edgeof a sheet; axially shiftable camming means axially oriented in saidcylinder, operably associated with said gripper means to radially shiftsaid gripper means with axial shifting of said camming means; pivotallever means on said carriage operably engageable with one end of saidcamming means to axially shift said camming means when pivoted; leveractuating means mounted at one end of said bed to pivot said lever meansfor: sheet releasing as said carriage reaches said bed end; and manualactuating handle means attached to the second end of said camming means,projecting from said carriage means, for manually axially shifting saidcamming means for releasing short sheets at selected locations of saidcarriage along said bed.

2. In a printing press including a form-supporting bed, a carriagemovable along said bed and having form rollers, a distributor roll, andan impression cylinder; said impression cylinder having a plurality ofradially oriented sheet grippers spaced axially along said cylinder andwith sheet gripping portions adjacent the periphery of said cylinder;means biasing said grippers radially inwardly of said cylinder for sheetgripping; axial cam shaft means extending axially in said cylinder,having cam surface means operably engaging said grippers to shift themradially outwardly with axial movement of said cam shaft means for sheetreleasing; said cam shaft means being axially shift-able; lever meanshaving one end portion operably engaging one end of said cam shaftmeans, pivotally mounted in its central portion to said carriage, andhaving cam follower means on its other end; cam means mounted to saidbed adjacent an end thereof and positioned to engage said cam followermeans when said carriage reaches said bed end, to pivot said lever,axially push said cam shaft means and radially shift said grippers forsheet release; and manual handle pull means on the other end of said camshaft means, extending from said cylinder, for manual axial pulling ofsaid cam shaft means and grippers for selected alternate sheet release.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,567,360 12/1925 Dudley an.101-269 1,664,700 4/1923 Nayer 101 409 1,843,254 2/1932 Vandercook eta1. 101-269 2,674,943 4/1954 Barney 101269 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,028,1354/1958 Germany.

OTHER REFERENCES Publication No. 730, The Challenge Machinery 00., p. 6,9-1959.

ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner.

H. P. EWELL, F. A. WINANS, Assistant Examiners.

